How does dry ice work?

While dry ice looks like it would be cold, it's extremely dangerous to the touch and can cause severe burns.

Photographer: Kivig | Agency: Dreamstime.com

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­Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. A block of dry ice has a surface temperature of -109.3 degrees Fahrenheit (-78.5 degrees C). Dry ice also has the very nice feature of sublimation -- as it breaks down, it turns directly into carbon dioxide gas rather than a liquid. The super-cold temperature and the sublimation feature make dry ice great for refrigeration. For example, if you want to send something frozen across the country, you can pack it in dry ice. It will be frozen when it reaches its destination, and there will be no messy liquid left over like you would have with normal ice.

Many people are familiar with liquid nitrogen, which boils at -320 degrees F (-196 degrees C). Liquid nitrogen is fairly messy and difficult to handle. So why is nitrogen a liquid while carbon dioxide is a solid? This difference is caused by the solid-liquid-gas features of nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

­We are all familiar with the solid-liquid-gas behavior of water. We know that at sea level, water freezes at 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) and boils at 212 degrees F (100 degrees C). Water behaves differently as you change the pressure, however. As you lower the pressure, the boiling point falls. If you lower the pressure enough, water will boil at room temperature. If you plot out the solid-liquid-gas behavior of a substance like water on a graph showing both temperature and pressure, you create what's called a phase diagram for the substance. The phase diagram shows the temperatures and pressures at which a substance changes between solid, liquid and gas.

This page shows the phase diagrams for water and carbon dioxide. What you can see is that, at normal pressures, carbon dioxide moves straight between gas and solid. It is only at much higher pressures that you find liquid carbon dioxide. For example, a high-pressure tank of carbon dioxide or a carbon-dioxide fire extinguisher contains liquid carbon dioxide.

To make dry ice, you start with a high-pressure container full of liquid carbon dioxide. When you release the liquid carbon dioxide from the tank, the expansion of the liquid and the high-speed evaporation of carbon dioxide gas cools the remainder of the liquid down to the freezing point, where it turns directly into a solid. If you have ever seen a carbon-dioxide fire extinguisher in action, you have seen this carbon-dioxide snow form in the nozzle. You compress the carbon-dioxide snow to create a block of dry ice.

Dry Ice Safety

If you ever have a chance to handle dry ice, you want to be sure to wear heavy gloves. The super-cold surface temperature can easily damage your skin if you touch it directly. For the same reason, you never want to taste or swallow dry ice, either.

Another important concern with dry ice is ventilation. You want to make sure the area is well-ventilated. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air, and it can concentrate in low areas or enclosed spaces (like a car or a room where dry ice is sublimating). Normal air is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and only 0.035% carbon dioxide. If the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air rises above 5%, carbon dioxide can become toxic. Be sure to ventilate any area that contains dry ice, and do not transport it in a closed vehicle.